As the NBA’s postseason wears on into the conference finals, we are nearing the end of awards season as well. With the MVP award finally being announced for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Wednesday, the individual awards have all been accounted for, and Thursday brought the announcement of the league’s All-Defensive team honorees.
Evan Mobley, the 2024-25 Defensive Player of the Year, headlines this year’s All-Defensive first team alongside Dyson Daniels, Draymond Green, Luguentz Dort and Amen Thompson. However, there were no unanimous selections to the first team this year, as Mobley received 99 first place votes and one second place vote.
The Oklahoma City Thunder were the only team to have two players named to the All-Defensive teams this season with Lu Dort and Jalen Williams, which was a fitting distinction for the league’s best defense in the 2024-25 season.
NBA All-Defensive first team
NBA All-Defensive second team
There were pretty clear separations in voting between the first team and second team, as well as those who missed out on the honors. Amen Thompson received 171 voting points as the final member of the first team, 57 points clear of Ivica Zubac who topped the second team. Rudy Gobert earned 65 points to get the last spot on the second team, with OG Anunoby as the closest contender at 49 points — and the only player to receive more than 20 votes from the remaining pool of players.
The frontrunner for DPOY for much of the season, Victor Wembanyama, was not eligible for an All-Defensive team selection after missing the second half of the season with deep vein thrombosis.
